Monday, February 16, 2015

I
was asked once ... what would be my contribution to build a better future for our next generation. I looked at my kids and satisfied that I have done my best to
help them with their future…is that all? I wonder and my job as a member of
this world would be completed. How selfish ! I still remember one simple Ustaz
that came to our surau and asked the question
and it was like a blow to my face. How could I be so self-centered? I
have my young anak2 sedara, thousands of UiTM youngsters, hundreds of Hira
students and small kids that I prayed with at the surau……have I contributed
something to their future as a responsible member of the community ? and when
the answer is NO, I felt so ashamed that all this time I owe something to these
people. How could I live my life, day in day out, and feel nothing when I bump
into a bunch of kids with load of books in their bags walking hastily to escape the
afternoon heat. In Suratul Insaan verse 19, Allah swt described the youths as “
lulu’an manthuro” (mutiara yang bertaburan) when in Jannah. so beautiful from the Creator....

Surah al Insaan : 19

On
Saturday I was very fortunate to have the time to conduct an English Camp
together with my wife Salwana and three energetic UiTM students -Aliyah, Hafiz
and Izzat . The atmosphere was unbelievably havoc but in between the
butt-kicking and run-a-around-the classroom we managed to give them new vocabs,
sang Maher Zain’s songs, played a game, done a quiz, write a short essay and
put up a football-singing presentation. It was quite interesting to say the least,
to know that a lot of room for improvements are there for these kids. They
fooled around a lot, yes….but beneath that explosive behaviors lie a gentle and
simple soul that can be molded and shaped. We must hold on to our patience, a
hard work that is, and work with the
kids tirelessly. I lost my patience many times yesterday but held on tightly
not to release my anger because I know nothing good will come out of an angry
old man. In the end, when I walked off that surau to leave, a sense of unfulfilled
mission has immediately overcome my emotion. I need to come back and see those
faces again. Next time, In Syaa Allah!... in the meantime be good boys.....and girls.

They fumbled and tumbled but they are our future...pandanglah mereka dgn penuh kasih sayang......

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Being
the smallest team (father & son) does not mean it is the least important;
but on the contrary, this team is very important in any way you smell it – the
F&B team. Bro Nanoe Kamal and son Hakim who own a famous restaurant in
Pasir Mas (Kamal Restoren), was our official caterer and had been given total
responsibility to provide food and beverages for the volunteers and local
participants. It’s hard work with limited running water and supplies but our
chefs managed to put all the hungry faces into jovial mood. The meals were
always there; be it breakfast, lunch or dinner with superb menu of Kelantan’s
best dishes every time. We were never disappointed. Nanoe and Hakim would go
extra miles to provide delicious side dishes like toasted bread with butter and
extra lauk like goreng daging etc. It was plenty for everybody including the
locals. Overall people were very satisfied with the food and beverages. Usually
volunteering work would make do with nasi bungkus and mineral water. Maybe if
the locals pity us they would cook something on the last day of our visit; but for
this mission we made a good decision to have a special chef to cook proper
meals for us. Even way after the mission some of us are still craving for that
delicious kerutub daging……

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Rebuilding Stolen Hopes (Part 5)

Heroes Among us : The Repair Team

Building temporary shelter for the flood victim in Kg Lulut, Gua Musang

This is one of the most important teams in CAFP as it
carried out the primary agenda of this mission. This team is responsible to
identify the status of all houses within the vicinity of Kg Lulut that were
affected by the flood and assess the damage. They went in before anyone else
and left after everyone had finished. It was really a hard work; we are all so
proud of this team and happy that they have accomplished what they were
assigned to do. The team was led by TM and assisted by Mat Ali, Gijoe, PokChik,Jasman, Zaidi and Nik Azhar and a group of skilled carpenters including the local hands
as well. If the house is livable but damage the team will repair whatever is
needed; like the damaged floor, missing walls or broken windows. Some need a
more extensive repair but the team would never turn the request away and repair
the damage as required. Some houses , however, are non-livable or incurred a
total loss (the word seems to be the buzz word in the area of disaster lately)
so new ones need to be built; in this case , the team would build a temporary
shelter for the family to allow them have a good permanent home from the
government later. But the temporary shelter as built by this team is good and
comfortable enough to live in. This team worked their tails off way into the
night to complete the task and continued the next day right into the afternoon.
The tireless effort and selfless attitude of the repair team remain to be the
pivotal spirit for this mission to call a success. The reputation of the repair
team had spread to the nearby villages as they urged them to go to their places
and assess the damage as well. Although it is out of our targeted area, the
team could turn them away flatly but instead entertained the request as much as
they could. The extent of the damage was unbelievable and the help to recover
trickled in very slowly.

All the building materials were shipped in the day before

making sure everything is there for the job tomorrow

sorting the roof for the shelter

getting the stuff to the work area

OK guys where do we start ?!

hmmm....Nik looking a bit kekkok

guys...can let go the puff butt for while now and offload the stuff ...

For one the
place is very remote (accessible only by the river) and secondly due to the
major disaster help to the place like this might be a bit slow. We are proud to
be there where no one else dares to go. Good job guys !

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

The pots and pans were cleaned piece by piece as Kak Na talked to the volunteers from Akademi Belia Negara Port Dickson

When was the last time you clean the dirty dishes or stained
pots and pans? Well these folks like the job so much they came all the way from
PD or KL just to scrub the stubborn mud off. It was a dirty job but some has to
do it. After a month from the big flood, the utensils in these households
remain unwashed. Cuci-cuci has been our primary goal for this mission as the
aftermath of the flood would leave unimaginable volume of garbage and the
things that remained in the house or around it would be dirty and mud-stained.
We salute our volunteers’ commitment to spend time and do this unglamorous task,
without these highly motivated folks the mission of CAFP to Kg Kuala Sungai may
not be accomplished. Besides cleaning, the squad also spent time to know the
family better and listened to the horror tales of the big yellow flood. How
they finally agreed to evacuate and left all the belongings to the rage of
flood waters. And how they were stuck in the shelter for days without proper
food and supplies. We may never replace their memories but the presence of this
squad may help them to reconcile with the reality.

Cameron(Scotland) and Callum (England) , exchange students staying with family Abg Mae & Kak Az joined in as well.

The squad being briefed by TM (our field commander)

eager to start as the morning started to heat up

Life goes on. Indeed, life
in Kuala Sungai has been back to normal with the help of many NGOs like these
squad members. After a good whole of cleaning, the task still seemed impossible
to complete. The stubborn mud that has now become hardening clay would remain
there as a witness that once the water had reached this part of the village;
the time when all hell broke loose. The people seemed to be receptive of this
squad and glad to know that someone do care and really came down here to help.
May this small effort will bring a little smile and promising hope so that their
future looks dry and bright after all.

Monday, February 9, 2015

It came. It destroyed. It went away. The flood that raged the rural areas of Kelantan along the river banks and continued downstream had left the villages crippled, isolated and devastated. No one had anticipated the annual flooding to become a ruthless tsunami that showed no mercy. Incessant rain in the afternoon had become unstoppable flow of gushing water; and by dusk it overflowed the main river and found its way into the kampong and the low-lying areas where most of the folks live. It was havoc, as the sun went down and the water kept rising, recalled a victim in Kg Lulut, Gua Musang, we filled the sampan with small kids and paddled to the shelter. Nothing much we could save. His eyes filled with empty tears as the future looks so bleak, so far-reaching. The aftermath was unbelievable and beyond anyone’s imagination. Only fate kept many alive. But to rebuild the life of the past 40-50 years that has been completely washed away is utterly hopeless.

CAFP (Cakna Alumni Faris Petra) was formed as a response to that hopelessness. What can we do? There must be something we can do to help this people. With that simple question and that simple aim we set out a task force under CAFP and rolled out our strategies, plans and actions. It took a month to coordinate the workforce, volunteers and financial supports. And then finally, with 130-strong volunteers and nearly 80K in cash and kinds donated by alumnae, friends, family and the public, we set forth to our targeted kampong- Kg Lulut@Kuala Sungai, Gua Musang about 5 hours drive from KL. The drive was normal until we turned off the main road and started our way into the estate; for one hour the car bumped up and down,jolted left and right deep into the darkness. As maneuvering the car to avoid the many potholes and landslides, I couldn’t imagine that there would be a bunch of people living at the end of this terrible road. The first sight of Kg lulut proved that the flood was enormous and damaged most of the community there-the school, the mosque and the houses. We were speechless to say the least but very fortunate to finally be here for the mission. All the preparations have to be materialized and executed within our short stay in Kg Lulut.

As we arrived late that afternoon, most of the equipments and building materials have been shipped there and many more is coming in even though the darkness had started to descend upon us. It was silent and at the same eerie to see that we were slowly enveloped by the night. Electricity and running water had yet to be restored and all of us were running around in the dark trying to do something to help volunteers settled for the night. It was a brief panic as we used to have all these facilities at the flick of a finger and now the stubborn darkness has no reason to go away. The empty rooms at the hostel were cold, dirty and lifeless as I was running from one room to another like a child looking for his lost toys. I heard the water running but when I turned on the tap it was nothing; and a quick enquiry with the plumbers there told me that you better stopped asking questions or we all will never get a wash tonight or tomorrow. I backed off and let them do the job. This does not look good, I told myself; but nothing could be done so be it. One thing I learnt that night was never to underestimate a disaster area, you must come prepared from A-Z. I retreated that night without anticipating anything from this place. Nothing at all . Alhamdulillah ,however, everything just got better and better although many of us had to force ourselves to sleep before the sun comes up again for another busy day. Many volunteers arrived late at night with full load at the back of their 4x4 pick-up trucks. Most of us were there waiting for the morning sun to shine bright on our mission and meet the people of this place. Welcome to Kg Lulut everyone …….

As the sunlight streaming through the orchards, the real strength of the flood was revealed. The muddy debris were all over the place, the stranded cars still remain cold by the roadside, the damaged houses trying to tell the horror side of their stories every time you look at them and the people always forced a smile as we greet; the cold hands and empty looks scratched your heart and begged for empathy. Not a whole lot just a bit of compassion to live by. I looked up to the sky to hold back my tears and asked for my own strength to fulfill this mission. These people will go on living as they were with or without me; let it be my friends and I that will carve a new future for them. Our volunteers started to gather for the day’s event. A bus load of them were from The Youth Academy in Port Dickson. They looked strong, healthy and eager to do the job. I believe in them that today they will deliver their promise to help up; as I do in all young people especially UiTM students that I deal with everyday. Many youngsters have positive outlook in life only if the older generation can hold to their patience and listen to what the youth has to say. The other group from UiTM has yet to arrive as the sun started to heat the ground. TM (our field commander) has started to give instructions and set up the squads according to his targeted areas. The equipments were all ready to be wheeled out into the field. I would say the operation started well and it seemed everyone knows the task to be carried out. Today the volunteers will wear orange t-shirt with mask, gloves and boots; a proper outfit for the disaster area. One group will do the repair job and another group will do the cleaning. The locals seemed to open up their houses and let these volunteers went in and helped them wash the muddy dishes, pots and pans. It was an endless task as the muddy stains just never seem to go away. If you were in their position you would give a hopeless stare as well to all the dirty dishes; the energy has just gone and washed away with the flood water. No one will never understand this until you sit down and try to scrub away the pots and pans. Our volunteers have done that meticulously while putting a little smile on their hard stone faces. We can never estimate the degree of trauma that these people have gone through but being there with friendly faces and generous gestures will give them some ideas that there are people out there that will drop everything, travelled for hundreds of kilometers just to come and see how they are doing. The repair team had done excellent jobs as well; putting up better shelter for the family and amended whatever needed for the houses. The operations were done professionally by our experts and the outcome has been tremendously awesome. No one expected a delivery of woods, planks and the rest of building materials to arrive at 3 in the morning, or the running water to be available within a few hours; but CAFP team has proved that to be true. The coordination in the field runs like a clockwork and we have delivered beyond our own expectation. Bravo CAFP!

As the day was heated up, the dust terribly made the air thick and sticky. It’s time to break for lunch. F&B were provided by Nanoe, our alumni as well, who owns a famous restaurant in Pasir Mas (Kamal Restoren) and the meals have been fabulously delicious. So even though we were in the middle of a disaster area, we were served well with Kelantan famous dishes like tuna curry(gulai lemak ikan ayo) and Nanoe’s signature dish - beef kerutub. There were chicken BBQ as well served with rice and bread. So the meals were superb; just another reason to come back and do this again sometime soon. In the afternoon, the operations continued in a more relaxed and joyful manner as everyone started to feel good with one another and know each other better. A group of CAFP team made an excursion to the nearby village to assess the damage and lend some kind of help. A short boat ride down stream took them to a small village of Kg. Bujang. The devastation was similar all over and four of the houses really need help. Has anyone ever go there to look at the place? I asked in dismay. Nope they were left with little help, neglected and isolated. The real horror of the big flood has started to unfold as we graced the ground of Kg Lulut and its vicinity like Kg Bujang,Kg. Jeram Landak, Kg Serasa and Kg Mela. The team came back with a report and would assess for our future mission. The afternoon operations ended about 5pm and everyone just hung around chatting with the folks of Kg Lulut; a relationship blossomed and feelings mutually exchanged. The repair team, however, continued deep into the night.

That night we held a feast for everyone in Kg Lulut. Many turned up and enjoyed a movie at the side. A talk by Zaid Mohamad followed suit entitled “ Perjuangan Yang perlu Diteruskan”. We gave out a hamper of everything to each household and they seemed to be satisfied with the gift. The night ended with a fireworks show that exclaimed our presence there and the mission we set to accomplish.